fail-safe

from WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)
fail-safe
    adj 1: guaranteed not to fail; "a fail-safe recipe for cheese
           souffle"
    2: eliminating danger by compensating automatically for a
       failure or malfunction; "a fail-safe device in a nuclear
       weapon to deactivate it automatically in the event of
       accident"
    n 1: a mechanism capable of returning to a safe state in case
         there is a failure or malfunction
    

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